May 27, 2009
WHYY Announces Groundbreaking for New High Tech Learning Lab at WHYY  PHILADELPHIA--WHYY today announced the groundbreaking and the start of construction of its new high tech facility, The Learning Lab at WHYY, located on Seventh Street behind the 150 North Sixth Street facility. Occupancy is scheduled for May 2010.
The Learning Lab at WHYY will be a unique facility, designed to teach the regional community to express itself through digital technology, helping individuals learn to tell their own stories and the stories of their communities through digital video, audio, and new media. In partnership with WHYY's many community partners, The Learning Lab will be integrated with and expand WHYY's pre-existing 60,000 square foot Technology Center.
The new building's main features will include the 4,100 square foot Lincoln Financial Digital Media Education Studio, two media classrooms, a student-based digital control room, meeting space, and a reception/display area showcasing the latest works of learning lab students The Learning Lab will be part media laboratory, part classroom, part performance and production space, and most importantly, a center for connectivity across the spectrum of media platforms, giving all citizens from all walks of life the ability to connect more fully with their own communities.
Prior to construction, WHYY has launched several Learning Lab pilot projects, including an after-school documentary workshop for teens, teacher training in how to create videos with students, and digital storytelling for senior citizens. In FY09, Learning Lab projects reached hundreds of youth and adults across the region.
"This is an important moment for WHYY and the community as we break ground on The Learning Lab at WHYY," said WHYY President and CEO Bill Marrazzo. "The Learning Lab will complement and leverage the many dimensions of WHYY's community media services by providing a vital off air environment to teach, coach, and inspire children, teens, adults and other community partners to become participants in the media creation process as a way to enhance their own community needs. A more informed and connected Delaware Valley is at the heart of the development of the Learning Lab, and we are grateful to all our partners for the support throughout this entire process, including Dorrance H. Hamilton, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Lincoln Financial Foundation, DRPA and many others."
"WHYY plays a critical role in the lives of the residents of the Delaware Valley and the construction of the Learning Lab both extends that reach and enables WHYY to more deeply connect with them in their daily lives," said WHYY Board Chair Gerard H. Sweeney. "I know I speak on behalf of the entire WHYY Board of Directors when I say that not only have our funders been exceedingly generous in their support of the Learning Lab, but their support has been visionary as we developed with them this new direction forward toward a shared and better connected future."
"When Bill Marrazzo first told me of the exciting plans for the WHYY Learning Lab, I saw a wonderful opportunity to expand digital technology in the Delaware Valley, for children and youth, of course, but also for adults and seniors who want to become more informed and connected with the use of the Internet," said Dorrance H. Hamilton. "Only in breaching the digital divide can everyone begin to equally participate in the economic mainstream. WHYY is once again taking innovative steps to improve the quality of life of all Delaware Valley residents through enhanced education and communication."
"Lincoln Financial Group is proud to continue its partnership with WHYY in a project as important as the Learning Lab," said Susan Segal, Lincoln Financial Foundation's Philadelphia program officer. "Community dialogue and education are more important today than ever, and we hope that the Lincoln Financial Digital Education Studio at the Learning Lab will be an important catalyst to regional discourse, community building, and academic excellence."
"WHYY continues to be an innovator and vital connector within Philadelphia's civic community," said PA State Representative Dwight Evans. "The Learning Lab will be a beacon of hope for those citizens who are navigating a turbulent economic landscape."
"The Learning Lab will be an invaluable asset to WHYY and the community it serves, which will benefit from this state-of-the-art all digital learning facility," said PA State Senator Larry Farnese. "It serves as yet another milestone in the evolution of public broadcasting and its mission to provide free educational programming and opportunities for lifelong learning."
"The Learning Lab at WHYY was designed to both complement the existing WHYY Technology Center, which is so evocative of its technology-rich environment inside, and to highlight the Learning Lab's special mission to support learning in the surrounding community," said David Zaiser, AIA, Partner, KSS Architects. "Inside, digital displays will show videos produced by the Learning Lab, while the translucent white panel exterior form will create an identity for the Learning Lab distinct from the rest of Technology Center."
"Aegis Property Group has been involved with WHYY since the Technology Center project. We've been working with WHYY for many years to help them realize this expansion of their mission to provide educational services to the community," said Timothy M. Calligan, partner. "The WHYY Learning Lab will have a great impact, and we're honored to be providing project management services for such a unique and important project."
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May 21, 2009
KSS Architects Completes Renovations and Expansions at Three Barnegat Schools  PRINCETON, N.J.--New renovations and additions designed by KSS Architects will greet students at three Barnegat Township elementary schools when they return to the classrooms this September. In 2004 the New Jersey Schools Development Authority selected KSS to design concurrent projects at the Lillian M. Dunfee, Robert L. Horbelt and Cecil S. Collins schools.
Merilee Meacock, AIA, a principal at KSS Architects, said the projects were an exciting and rewarding experience.
"The buildings had become a little tired after years of use," Meacock said. "The schools play an important role in the communities, and we wanted to celebrate their students by giving them better amenities, more space, and a sense of identity."
Each school had a unique character and story that KSS enhanced through design. Designed in the 1970s, the 38,000-square-feet Dunfee School needed updating and an expansion for its increasing student population. Using glass and translucent building materials, KSS designed a new entrance that celebrates the school and its students and added space for the kindergarten, which was at capacity in its existing rooms. KSS also designed a 20,500-square-feet addition for Dunfee that houses a gymnasium, art room, music room, and classrooms for the fifth graders. The addition has vibrant blue glazed brick, a light well, and spherical pendant light fixtures hung at different heights, giving the space a celestial atmosphere. It has become a place to which younger students aspire as they progress through the grades. The expansion increases capacity from 410 to 515 students in kindergarten to fifth grade.
After doubling in population in just five years, students had outgrown the Horbelt School's existing space. KSS worked with the school to design new classrooms for pre-kindergarteners and students with special needs. An existing garden between the cafeteria and classrooms provided inspiration for a new music pavilion for the entire school. The pavilion gives students their own music room with extensive glass windows that look out into the garden space. The 15,500-square-feet, two-story addition increases the school's total square footage to 73,500, and student capacity from 330 to 550.
At the 71,500-square-feet Collins School, KSS renovated and designed new classrooms to accommodate the growing student population and pre-kindergarteners. To make the school a special place for students, KSS designed a new entrance with a steel-frame canopy and vibrant blue glazed brick that complements the existing masonry. By updating the school's design, KSS has strengthened the identity of the Collins School.
Working closely with SDA, KSS carefully coordinated construction scheduling and phasing for the three projects since some work had to be completed during the school year with minimal disruption to classes.
The Horbelt School held their ceremony on May 20. The Dunfee School held their ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 21. School officials, teachers and students attended the ceremonies and celebrated their new spaces. Construction at the Collins School was significantly completed in August 2008.
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